Saints sucker punch is Wright on time
IT was an ugly game at Pittodrie, but it encapsulated everything we have come to admire in the way that St Johnstone under Tommy Wright go about their business.
Aberdeen went into it knowing their goal-difference advantage is such that Rangers’ defeat meant that had they won and gone 12 points clear of the third-placed side, they would have secured the runners-up spot.
The hosts started both halves promisingly, but were never allowed to generate any sort of rhythm as, aided by referee Alan Muir’s willingness to get involved, they hustled and harried their opponents until they ran out of ideas and then made crucial errors that allowed the men from Perth to head back down the east coast having gained revenge in full for having lost to Aberdeen in the last match before the split.
“I can’t remember Alan Mannus having a save to make and Aberdeen never got through us at all,” was the redoubtable Wright’s accurate post-match summation.
“It’s a great three points because we told the players people thought we wouldn’t come here and get a result. We put in a sterling performance in what wasn’t a pretty game to watch. We defended well and nullified one of the best teams in the country. We provided the two moments of quality in the game and they have got us the three points.
Hard to argue with that, just as the Saints manager admitted he is finding it harder to keep deflecting questions about possibly pursuing a top-three finish while insisting they are not relaxing about finishing in the top four, because the gaps either side of them are identical.
Derek McInnes, his Aberdeen counterpart did, however, feel there was cause to quibble with the decision that, following a good move that had seen Joe Lewis forced into a decent save from lively substitute Craig Thomson, turned the match Saints’ way.
McInnes felt it had been harsh to adjudged the way Ryan Jack controlled the ball for his goalkeeper after he had initially parried the ball, should not have been deemed a pass back, feeling that the nudge he received should have been sufficient mitigation, but he also admitted that the way Aberdeen defended the indirect free kick – from an acute angle around 10 yards out on the left hand side – left a lot to be desired.
Confronted with the football equivalent of a charge down as Liam Craig rolled the ball to him, Danny Swanson focused on drilling the ball low and across Lewis and it found its way inside the far post.
Aberdeen’s loss of possession just inside the visitors’ half allowed Murray Davidson to break with vast space in front of him and aware that his support out-weighed the defence, he calmly picked out young Thomson whose glee was unbounded after he registered his first goal for the club with a sweet right-footed strike, from the edge of the box on the right, which passed Lewis on his right.
“We were not at our best and it was a dour game,” McInnes acknowledged.
“We are the second best team in Scotland but we have the worst pitch. Players were slipping and the ball was bouncing about everywhere. It didn’t help either side.”